That wave of energy, full of comfortable warmth, washed back, and Ye Nai let out a contented sigh. The slight chill from the rain vanished from her body, along with the minor discomfort caused by her period.
Seeing that things were settled, Ye Nai didn't dare to linger and took a detour home.
First thing upon arriving was to clean the house. Six people living in less than 60 square meters meant clutter everywhere, and if you didn't tidy up every day, there would be no place to set foot.
While she was mopping the floor in her parents' master bedroom, her dad, Ye Yu, who was scrolling through his phone in the living room, suddenly shouted.
"Ye Nai!"
"What's up?" Ye Nai asked, hurrying out with the mop in hand.
"Our building's chat group says something happened in the neighborhood."
"What happened?"
"There seem to be mutant plants and beasts roaming around?"
"What?! Has anyone seen them?" Ye Nai put down the mop, ready to snatch her dad's phone, "It's such a hassle hearing it from you, I'd rather see for myself."
"Hey, hey, hey, don't snatch, I'm still looking. Don't you have a phone?"
"I'm not in the group."
"Here, take the phone, take the phone, I'll add you to the group."
After some fussing, Ye Nai finally joined their building's group and started flipping through the fresh scene photos with her flip phone.
The scene had been disturbed; a long, intact ridge had been trampled into several pieces.
It was still raining outside, but residents were coming to gawk at the scene with umbrellas, forming layers upon layers of onlookers around the exercise area.
It was really layers inside and out, since residents of the buildings next to the site had taken photos from high vantage points. After being passed around through various building groups, not only the people in their community saw them, but also relatives and friends from other places, and some even posted them online.
"The scene has been disturbed; can anything still be made out?"
"Well, we can't tell, but the experts can figure it out, right?" her dad said while poking at his phone.
"Dad, what are you doing?"
"Sending it to my colleague to have a look. It's really rare to see a mutant beast in a city neighborhood after so many years."
"You're actually hoping for strange creatures to appear in the city? Had enough of the good life?"
"What nonsense are you talking about, I was just saying."
"Oh, I thought you were tired of the calm life and looking for some excitement."
Ye Nai rolled her eyes at her dad, slipped the phone into her pocket, and continued mopping the floor.
After finishing the cleaning and checking her phone again, the group messages had already been updated to the latest version.
In the photos, the figures of police and inspection personnel appeared, and the site had been cordoned off with police tape.
A few more new photos arrived in the group. The TV station's outside broadcast van had also arrived.
Ye Nai lurked in the group, calmly spectating. She was certain that no matter how much those people investigated, they would never trace anything back to her.
In the afternoon, everyone who had gone to work or school returned, and the group became even livelier, speculating on where the dangerous creatures underground might have gone.
Residents who had been watching the commotion at the scene started a live stream in the group, and Ye Nai followed everyone to see an important message.
Initial on-site inspection revealed that the dangerous creature was a segmented animal, but there were no traces of soil disturbance indicating its departure, nor were there any signs of it bursting through the ground. It seemed as though the creature had raised a mound of dirt and then vanished on the spot.
But it hadn't really vanished on the spot, right? It was directly grabbed by the Fungal Mycelium from underground and taken into the Fungal Space.
Throughout the whole day, almost completely decomposed, only a section remained. Because it was fully covered by the Fungal Mycelium, it was not clear whether it was the head, tail, or middle section, but such a large thing was reduced to this little bit.
Watching the excitement didn't delay the chores; by the afternoon, a large bowl of soy-braised pork with eggs was cooked, and the whole family discussed the bizarre event in the neighborhood at the dinner table. The news also reported on this, reminding nearby residents to stay vigilant and to call the police if they noticed any anomalies.
As residents of the concerned neighborhood, the family was worried about safety, but while they were worried, they didn't think it was worth moving somewhere else for a while out of excessive fear.
"These mutant beasts come and go without a trace, where could we possibly hide? What if we move and another one pops up somewhere else? The hassle of moving back and forth isn't worth it compared to just staying at home." Their father, who now had difficulty walking, was naturally the most opposed to the inconvenience.
"Do you think that unidentified creature suddenly disappearing in the soil..."
"... could it be that the creature itself has the ability to move through space?"
The twin brothers boldly speculated, successfully frightening their parents and sister, while Ye Nai kept her head down and ate without responding.
"Come on, let's eat, eat. Don't scare people with your wild guesses." Their mom, Yu Qing, slapped each of the boys on the back, putting an end to that topic.
After dinner, everything went on as usual, and Ye Nai finished up the various household chores for the evening.
The next morning, she checked the Space and saw that the segmented creature from yesterday had completely decomposed, leaving not a single trace behind.
The buzz in the building's group chat had died down considerably from the day before, as residents near the incident site saw that the inspection personnel had been busy all night and had only packed up and removed the cordon at dawn. With the excitement over, the number of people chatting naturally dwindled.
Ye Nai saw the messages on her phone and once again released a large quantity of spores from the balcony.
Of course, she wasn't doing it to obtain the steady trickle of energy that the Fungal Mycelium fed back to her, she was simply doing it to protect the neighborhood where she lived.
Everything at home was normal throughout the morning, and at noon, using the leftover meat soup from the day before, she cooked noodles for her dad. The Fungal Mycelium's energy feedback experienced another abnormality. Without waiting for Ye Nai to release spores to further investigate, another prey appeared in the Space.
It was identical to the segmented creature from the day before, but its body was much larger. Yesterday's creature had coiled around once in the Space; today's specimen was thicker and longer, coiling around more than three times.
Ye Nai was puzzled, wondering why no incidents had occurred before, and now two days in a row, abnormal creatures were appearing in the neighborhood.
Fortunately, her Fungal Mycelium was efficient; otherwise, given these creatures' penchant for burrowing underground, the whole neighborhood could have collapsed.
Additionally, it was quite strange that the appearances were consecutive and all of the same type of animal.
Slightly anxious, Ye Nai reached out toward the kitchen screen, exhausted all her strength, and released a large wave of spores, building a safety perimeter around her building. She then allowed the excess Fungal Mycelium spawned to follow the energy trail and hunt.
Afterward, she continued to be busy, making sure her dad had his midday meal.
A steaming bowl of noodles had just been placed on the dining table when another prey appeared in the Space.
It was still the same type of segmented animal. The two of them stacked on top of each other filled up a large portion of the Space; if one more came along, there would be no room left.
"Shit, two of them?"
Before Ye Nai's surprise could subside, the Space continued to gulp in semi-translucent, pill-like objects one after the other, as if it were laying eggs.
Each one that dropped was quickly wrapped in a thick layer of Fungal Mycelium, making them look even more like fluffy balls.
"Holy shit, laying eggs? Making a nest?"
Ye Nai broke out in a cold sweat and muttered softly to herself. She went to the bedroom and wheeled her dad out for a meal, then focused on picking up her own bowl, refusing to look at how many "fluffy balls" had accumulated in the Space.